Pours a lighter brown color with a slightly reddened tint along the edges. There is a small off-white head that recedes rather quickly.

Aromas begin with strong amounts of oaky bourbon, almost completely dominating. There is a bit of toasted maltiness, sweet caramel maltiness and some emerging nuttiness to help to balance but the boozy bourbon.

The tastes follow the nose pretty much with a small amount of toasted breadiness and nutty maltiness but the sweet bourbon jumps right in to assert itself. Oak, vanilla and whiskey continue to emerge and overtake the flavor profile.

The mouthfeel is medium to thin bodied with medium to low carbonation. Finish is slightly boozy from the barrel aging.

Overall this is a nice idea but barrel aging such a low ABV beer is usually not a good idea and this is no exception. The base beer is almost undetectable because they barrel aged a 6% brown ale; maybe partial barrel aged would have been a safer voyage but this basically drinks like a boilermaker (shot of whiskey dropped in a beer).

Found at the Tap Room at the Somerset Hills Hotel in Warren, New Jersey this distinctive brown ale shows a solid, deep black-brown color with a modest off-white (vaguely light tan) colored cover with a solid ring around the edges of the glass and decent waves of lacing left in retreat. The aroma offers a nice bourbon/courvoisier over tobacco malt and peat peachy fruit. Very complex but hard to define. The flavor brings out big oatmeal malt with a decided vegetable grapefruit counter that blends nicely into the bourbon-grass qualities that you anticipate. This is pretty well constituted with a medium-full body that has mellow carbonation for a silky feel that suits this intense brown ale. It suggests a higher ABV than noted but it goes down just fine with great flavor for those that appreciate the bourbon qualities. I'm not typically a big fan of bourbon beer concoctions but this one is done very well and serves as a great introduction to this New Jersey brewer.

One day, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, the fad of bourbon barrel aging having passed on finally, select breweries will revive the vintage process, painstakingly nurturing already tried-and-true recipes through daily samplings, racking at the moment of perfect harmony, achieving heavenly balance... One day...

Had this on tap at "best of Philly" Pour House in Westmont, NJ. Final visit before leaving South Jerz as a resident for the last time.

Truly, I can tell there's a decent brown ale at the base of this, however, as it went along, it became a tannin bomb of historic proportions. My taste buds still feel raked 30 min after the final gulp.

Strangely, the lion's share of the bourbon flavor I tasted was in the very first sip. A brief burst of it atop the mildly caramel-kissed chocolate cookie malts. It was a rather quick decent into the abyss of stave-licking after that.

Balance - that's all I ask for. Having this potentially fine brown ale's complexity enhanced with a subtle background note of sweet bourbon would have been a treat. 6 months may be a tad too long, hoss. Might wanna dial it back a few notches. Shoot me an email when that happens.

Amazing brew! this may be one of the all time greats for drinkability regarding bourbon barrel aged beers. Beer pours a subtle head, has a wonderful aroma and the taste is amazing! subtle yet recognizable bourbon notes tease the palate as the brown ale base beer holds strong. This brew was a big surprise and I would purchase it again for sure.